By Kari Lucin, staff writer

KIESTER &045; It seemed like everyone came home for Kiester Days this year.

People who’d lived in Kiester years ago managed to get back for the weekend’s parade, street dance, softball tournament, steak fry, car show and Belgian waffle breakfast.

&8220;Clara has been excited for a couple of days about the bounce house, and I think it’s just seeing all the old friends,&8221; said Nona Nesseth, now of Shorewood. &8220;There’s just a lot of fun things going on today.&8221;

She and her daughter Clara, 3, came back for the weekend to visit Clara’s grandparents, who still live in Kiester.

Other toddlers, some barely old enough to walk, much less bounce in the inflatable bounce house, navigated an obstacle course built just for them in the Kiester City Park Saturday morning. They clambered over plastic playground equipment, crawled through cloth tubes and tried to figure out where to go next.

Spills and stumbles were met with giggles from the watching crowd and the toddlers themselves,

who occasionally took wrong turns and ended up going through the obstacle course twice.

&8220;Daddy, I win the race!&8221; said Andy Krohnberg, 3. &8220;I run through there and come back out!&8221;

Every toddler who ran the obstacle course was a winner Saturday, receiving a pass to the Kee Theatre, a free ice cream cone from the Maple Cafe and a coloring book.

After the obstacle course was run, many parents and kids gravitated to the other end of the park, where the adult volleyball tournament was in progress and there was plenty of playground equipment. The United South Central Fine Arts Boosters sold tacos-in-a-bag for $3 apiece, along with pop and water for $1. Many women bought bingo cards for 25 cents as part of the Women’s Auxiliary fundraiser, winning prizes of Kiester bucks.

&8220;This whole weekend is fun. We all come home every time,&8221; said Brenda Seys of North Mankato, who grew up in Kiester.

Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, despite any minor mishaps. A little boy came out of the bounce house and put his shoes on the wrong feet, and when his mom pointed it out, he simply kept walking as if he didn’t mind. A flubbed volleyball hit bounced off a red Honda CR-V and then a black Labrador, but neither the dog nor the players were fazed.

People wanted to have fun, and as someone in the crowd tossed the volleyball back to a player, it

was pretty clear they were getting what they wanted.